


Battle puns

by Ilyasviel



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Awkward Flirting, F/M, Feels, Flirting, Friendship, Funny, Poor Tali, Puns & Word Play, witness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-24 15:47:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13216974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ilyasviel/pseuds/Ilyasviel
Summary: Ashlyn has returned from the death land some months ago, and has been running up and down the galaxy, picking up old friends on her way. The last one has been Tali, who keeps pestering her about her relationship with Garrus. But really, what relationship? They are just friends, right?





	Battle puns

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NilesDaughter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NilesDaughter/gifts).



> A little thing I wrote as a part of the MEWC secret Santa for the lovely [nilesdaughter](http://archiveofourown.org/users/NilesDaughter/pseuds/NilesDaughter/), hope you like it, love!
> 
> I used her OC, Ashlyn, as a base. Hope I have captured her well. She is half Filipino, I adde some words on that language here and there, please, excuse me if I did it wrong >_<
> 
> Happy holidays! <3

Horizon is weighing heavily on Ashlyn. Even with Garrus there, trying to cheer her up, the Commander feels the rejection deep in her heart. And the loss of half the colony is just like salt to her wounds. Luckily for her, their next mission brought them to Haestrom, where Tali was waiting for them. Well, not waiting, but glad to see them anyway. She joined the ship, and she has begun to be herself again surrounded by her old pals. Damn, she even made vidcomms to talk with Wrex after she joined the crew, making the old man laugh like crazy when a half tipsy Tali begun to explain how hot it was on the planet.

 

Ashlyn lays in her bed, looking through the window over it, enjoying the show of the stars passing by while the ship travels between systems. The new ezoo core is barely a whisper in her cabin, but she swears to everyone who ask that she can sense the vibration in her room, and that she loves it. Tali has been the one explaining to her, during their Saren’s days what means a silent ship in the middle of the dark space, and she has written it in her heart with fire. The beep from her omnitool push her away from her reverie, making her raise the arm and break the line of sight to the stars. Tali’s face with her shiny eyes is waiting for her in the screen.

 

“Hey, Shepard! Do you mind going with me to the Citadel? I need to buy some things.”

 

The cheerful Quarian always brings a smile to her face, “Sure thing. We need to pay a visit to Anderson and get some supplies for the kitchen. Besides,  Garrus wanted to go there to follow a lead…”

 

Laughing, Tali is laughing openly to the cam. The synthetic sound making it even more irritating to Ashlyn. “Suuuuuure, Shepard. I’m sure that supposed _‘lead’_ ,” She makes air quotes with her fingers, and the Commander can hear the chuckles of the engineers, “is the only reason to bring Garrus with us.”

 

“I hate you.”

 

A soft chuckle and the bright eyes she can see through the mask half closed in laugh is her answer. “I know you love me. But yeah, Garrus can come with us. Will you, please, contact Joker and set the course?”

 

“Yeah. I’ll contact you with the ETA.”

 

Tali clapped happily, “Perfect! Thanks, Shepard! See you later!”

 

She cut the comms, leaving Ashlyn surrounded by the silence of her room, just broken by the bubbling of the aquarium and the distant hum of the core. After rolling to one side, she bends an arm under her head, looking to the picture she has on her nightstand. The full team of the original Normandy is there, with Garrus, Wrex, Ash, Kaidan, Joker, Tali, Chawkas… Ashlyn has stopped long ago trying to convince herself that she keeps it close because of her friends. Deep in her heart, she knows is the image of Garrus beside her, arm resting over her shoulders while they share a look. It has been a good ride, with bad moments, but always rewarding. Then Alcheera occurred and her life has been upside down since then. She has missed her friends once rejoining the awakening world, even having Karin and Joker with her, is not the same. And the jump her heart has done when she has found Garrus sitting smugly in his hideout on Omega? The perfect reminder of her feelings for him. Several weeks have passed since then, and his scarred face has been healing nicely. The angry marks of the time he tried to stop a missile with his face only adding to his charm, in his own words. The thought made her smile. He always brings a smile to her face, even in this dark days they are living. He makes her feel complete, like he fills a gap in her mind and soul. The short hair on her hair scratches her palm when she pases a hand over it, sitting back and cracking the bones of her neck before speaking, “EDI, patch me with Joker.”

 

“Hey, Commander.”

 

“Hello there, Joker. Set course to the Citadel, we have errands to do, and the team has earned a shore leave.”

 

A soft chuckle travels through the line, making Ashlyn’s mouth twitch up with him, “A shore leave on the Citadel? Not a bad plan, Commander. Let me check… yeah, ETA one hour. You are lucky and our last jump left us next the correct relay.” His voice stops, and she can hear the low murmur of EDI talking with him. “Yeah, yeah, you are right, yadda yadda. Commander, the damn cancer wants to know if we have to contact the crew or if you want to do it yourself.”

 

Ashlyn coughs to conceal the chuckle, but knows thanks the huff she hears through the comms that Joker is not buying it. “Thanks, contact them for me. We will stay on the Citadel for a couple of days. Ask Miranda to organise shifts to let every member of the crew at least 18h of shore leaf.”

 

“Aye aye, Commander.”

 

The comm close, leaving Ashlyn in the silence of her room again. She stretches lazily her back after standing from the bed, walking to the bathroom with her arms in the air. Once inside, she turns on the water to take a shower and begins to strip off her clothes. But before she puts a foot under the ray of water, she remembers that she hasn’t contacted Garrus. Opening the omnitool in audio mode, thanks to all the gods out there to her quick mind, because she was utterly naked already. The raspy voice of Garrus sounds from her wrist. “Shepard.”

 

Ashlyn smiles to her own arm, blushing softly, “We will be going to the Citadel. Tali asked for some free time there, and I remembered you needed to pay a visit there too.”

 

“Oh, perfect. Yes. I still need to go there. Do you mind lending me a hand with my investigation? I have a leak on Sidonis and didn’t want to lose it.”

 

She nods, remembering while blushing a bit more that he can’t see her, “Absolutely. We will be there in an hour. Will you have everything ready by then?”

 

“Yeah.” A couple of seconds later, Ashlyn can hear his sub vocals vibrating, “Shepard, are you in the shower?”

 

A cough echoes inside the closed room, “Well— yes. I was about to enter the shower when I remembered that I forgot to contact you, sorry. See you in an hour.”

 

Before she can cut off the comm, she hears him softly muttering, "I didn’t need that image in my brain".

 

She tries to understand the words, head tilted to one side, but the only outcome her brain conjures is a bad one, thinking of him disgusted by the image. With a sigh, she steps under the water, taking a long and well-deserved shower.

 

An hour later, by the time EDI announces the landing, Shepard was already dressed in her armour. With the knowledge that they are going to walk around the Citadel, following whatever lead Garrus have, the full equipment is in order. One can’t be cautious enough. When she reaches the CIC deck, she waves to Kelly while leaving the elevator, walking directly to the armoury. She ignores blatantly Jacob when he tries to start a conversation with her. The weapon's rack wait her there, and she picks up her shotgun and heavy pistol. She nods to him on her way out, going directly to the elevator while sending a message to Tali and Garrus to meet her at the cargo bay. She sits in a crate to wait, playing with her omnitool and reviewing the list of items the crew has requisitioned. In less than five minutes, the elevator pings again, the door opening to show a full armoured Garrus followed by a clearly pissed Tali. Her weapons are still on her hands while she huffs through her helmet to him. Garrus ignores her mood, waving to Shepard as soon as the door open and he steps outside of it. “Shepard! Ready to go?”

 

Jumping from the crate, Ashlyn waits for Tali to join them, helping her to fix the weapons to her hips holsters, “As ready as I can be without knowing where are we going. Lead the way, Vakarian.” When Tali makes another displeased sound, she pats the Quarian’s shoulder, “We will follow his lead before it gets cold, and then we will be free to pursue your vendors, Tali. And don’t fret about the time. The ship will not leave the Citadel without me, and I didn’t plan to leave you alone until you have everything you need.”

 

The sound of her sighing through the voice filters of her helmet always amuses Shepard. “Fine, fine! Damn Turian. Go, then. I need to buy some items before the stores close, and I will never forgive you if I can’t do it, Vakarian.”

 

The tall Turian makes a mock of a military salute, making her growl before pushing his shoulder. He is chucking by the time he turns from them and heads for the exit. “Then let's get moving. My contact will be waiting for us on the Zakera Ward. I asked Bailey for a favour and he pointed me there. We are looking for an information dealer called Fade. Seems they work with the Blue Suns and can help anyone to disappear under a false identity. I will not leave Sidonis hide his traitorous ass.”

 

EDI opens the door to the docks for them, and Ashlyn jumps from the ship, walking swiftly to the skycar parked nearby. “It is the first real trail you had in months, right?”

 

They enter the car, with Tali on the back and Garrus sitting beside Ashlyn, “It is. And it has costed me too many credits and too many stay up nights. I need to do it, Shepard. Need to close this…”

 

Ashlyn grabs his forearm, patting it before letting it go, “I know. We will do it, Garrus.”

 

In the end, it was a short trip. The skycar landed in the wards, the sound of the shops and the passersby filling the car once they open the doors. They leave it, following Garrus’ lead to a side warehouse between stores. Before opening the door, he turns to face the two women behind him, and when they give him short nods, he pushes the lock and opens the door. They go down the few stairs, seeing a Krogan leaning on a crate, and another at the end of the room. The seem relaxed, but stand to attention as soon as they see the weapons on the newcomers. A Volus appears from behind some cover as soon as they reach the centre of the room. Ashlyn looks at him up down, a raised brow in surprise, “Fade? You’re not quite how I imagined you.”

 

The Volus stops in front of him, flanked by his Krogan bodyguards, “Looks can be deceiving. So… Which one of you wants to disappear?

 

Garrus’ stance changes, voice lower than usual, “I’d rather see you make someone reappears.”

 

The Volus doubts for several seconds, head tilted to one side, “Ah… that’s not the service we provide.”

 

An exasperated sigh escapes her while Ashlyn crosses her arms, and Tali leans a hand on her hip, pretty close to her weapon. Garrus mandibles open and close before answering to him, “Make an exception.” He picks up the sub fusil from his hip, aiming it directly to the Volus’ head, “Just this once.”

 

Panicking a bit, the Volus begins to step back, screaming to his guards, “Damn it! Quick! Shoot them, you lumbering mountains!”

 

The full team has their weapons drawn and are aiming to the Volus and the Krogans. Ashlyn powers are dancing around her body like a wildfire, making her glow. Garrus takes the moment to aim to the biggest one of the pair, “Why don’t you two find somewhere else to skulk?”

 

The Krogan didn’t even think twice about it, shrugging before turning and almost running away from them. The Volus looks indignant over his shoulder, “Just like that? You are not getting paid for this!” With a defeated sigh, the man turns to face them again, “What’s the point of hiring protection if they won’t protect you?”

 

Eyes stop glowing when Ashlyn turns off her powers, lowering the weapon but didn’t put it aside, ready to act if necessary. “We’re looking for someone. A client of yours.”

 

Little hands begin to move nervously between them when the contact begins to gesticulate, “No, no, not mine. I’m not Fade. I just work for him. Sort of.”

 

“Tell us something we didn’t know, man.” Ashlyn sounds pissed while talking, but her eyes searched Garrus, face turned to him, and she winks at him, hiding it from the Volus.

 

Garrus steps forward, kneeling in front of the contact with the weapon hanging from a hand loosely, "Well then maybe you’d like to tell us where to find him."

 

“Yes, yes, of course!” The Volus nods frantically, making Tali try to conceal a little chuckle behind a feigned cough. Luckily for them, the man is so nervous he didn’t hear it. “He’s in the factory district, works out of the old prefab foundry.”

 

Turning to face Ashlyn over his shoulder, Garrus keeps moving the weapon in front of him, knowing that the Volus shivers every time, “I know the place.” Standing from the ground, he tilts his head, signalling the contact that he can go now.

 

The man begins to walk away, but stops briefly to talk to them over a shoulder, “Uh… He’s got a lot of mercs there. Blue Suns. Harkin thinks they are protecting him.”

 

The name pulls a trigger in Ashlyn’s brain. Harkin was the SOB they have to dealt with during their investigations on Saren’s case. If an ex C-Sec is using his knowledge to bend the law and undermine the security force effectivity… He must be stopped. “Time to move then. I can’t wait to put my boot on his sorry ass.”

 

“Let’s go.” Garrus turns to face the Volus. “You can go, but if we can’t find Harkin, we will be back for you.” The contact leaves the room as quickly as possible with his short legs, making Tali chuckle softly behind them. “Come on, we need to take a car.”

 

The factory district is in another arm of the Citadel. The trip is longer than expected for Shepard. But soon Garrus is landing off in front of a factory, a bunch of armed mercs standing in front of the door, with the man they are looking for between them. Garrus stops the engine and opens the doors, leaving the car followed by the two women, their short range weapons on hand. Ashlyn signals to him, “There he is. Lucky him, huh?”

 

Harkin narrow his eyes, looking between them until recognition kicks his brain, “Shepard? Damn it!” He looks to the surrounding guards while stepping back, “Don’t just stand there… stop them!”

 

Garrus has his rifle aimed to the first merc in a heartbeat, “Run all you want, Harkin. We’ll find you.”

 

Two guards were left behind to try to stop them. The mercs were hiding behind some crates on each side of the door. The team take cover too, aiming their weapons to them. With a silent nod between them, Garrus gets his weapon ready while Tali launches a drone against the one in the left and Ashlyn makes a biotic charge on the other one. The battle ends easily. The poor mercs have nothing to do against a team of hardened soldiers as the one they were facing. Ashlyn is checking the one she has charged against when Garrus voice reaches her, “Is good to see you still have a touch for head-butting people, Shepard.”

 

“Glad to serve. Now move forward and put your weapon to good use, Vakarian.”

 

A cocky grin appears on Garrus’ face, mandibles vibrating softly, “Oh, I can show you exactly what I can do with my weapon--”

 

Before they can continue, a hiss sounds from Tali, who moves between them in her way to the door, “Keelah! Get a room and spare me the show, will you?” She uses her omnitool to hack the lock open once she reaches it, “Come on, you two. We have a bad guy to catch before the shops close.”

 

Ashlyn is blushing when she turns to face Garrus, who is touching the back of his nape with his free hand. She points to the door with her shotgun before moving beside Tali, waiting for the Turian to join them. As soon as the team is complete, they open the door and stepping into hell.

 

The room behind the doors is full of crates everywhere, with big cranes moving on the high areas, transporting containers and other stuff. Garrus sees some inactive mechs curled nearby, and taking aim, destroys them before the mercs can activate them. Tali keeps working on every terminal they find, extracting data, credits and medigel from them. They walk in silence, full attention turned to the possible threats around them. And they have never been more grateful about their shared paranoia than that day, when a full squad of mercs, with a few engineers, mechs and heavy weapons, appear. Tali launches her attack drone over the biggest group, while Shepard begins to unleash her powers against them, throwing them back enough to reach a good cover. Garrus has disappeared as soon as they have seen the enemies, but the staccato of his rifle signals that he is indeed fighting. Ashlyn has charged against an engineer when the sound of a bullet hitting metal startled here. Turning to look at the source, she finds a mech falling to the ground, head exploded by a concussive shot. Her radio cracked with Garrus’ voice, “You are welcome.”

 

Ashlyn jumps to the next cover with a loud huff, “I got it under control.”

 

Another mech falling with half of its head missing, “No, you haven’t. But don’t worry, I love taking care of your sorry ass.”

 

The adrenaline rush is making Ashlyn’s brain work at FTL speed, and the filters have been turned down, “You can take care of it whenever you want, Vakarian, just say the words.”

 

When silence or little gasps is her only answer, Ashlyn curses herself, shaking the head. But soon the voice of Tali breaks the silence through the comms. “Lovebirds, if you want to flirt with one another, could you please do it in a private channel? Is pretty awkward for my lonely heart to listen it, you morons!”

 

The pair of them almost scream into the radio channel when they answered at the same time, “We are not flirting!”

 

Tali sounds amused when she answers a soft _‘Uh-huh…'_ , making Ashlyn sighs, “Pakshet! Enough of that, we have a tang ina to catch.” The team has grown accustomed to her slips to her mother language when she is nervous and didn’t say a word about the Filipino slang mixed with the common language.

 

They keep going on, killing everything and everyone who raises a weapon to them. Tali keeps hacking terminals and pads, discovering info that will be useful for Bailey. Keeping the pace, they reach a more open area, that is screaming ambush like crazy. Ashlyn crouches behind a set of crates, with Tali some metre behind her and Garrus hiding in high ground. EDI’s voice sounds in their radios, informing them about the explosive items the cranes are moving around, and how they can be used to mine the mercs’ resistance. Ashlyn steps briefly from the cover after taking a deep breath, time enough to catch the mercs attention and hiding again as soon as the bullets pass singing beside her. “Garrus! Make them blow up!”

 

His answer get lost in the sound of his concussive shots. A container falls from the ceiling over the bunch of mercs, making them blow. Garrus laugh sounds high and clear in their earpieces, making a soft smile appear on Ashlyn’s face. “Nice work, Vakarian. Glad to see the missile you eat for breakfast in Omega didn’t play havoc with your aim.”

 

“My aim is pretty accurate, Shepard. Someday I can show you how well I can shoot, and how efficiently.”

 

Tali’s grunt breaks the conversation, making a soft blush appear again on the Commander’s face. “Ok. Time to finish it. Garrus, keep doing your magic. Tali, send your drone behind them, I will charge as soon as they are distracted with it.”

 

The plan was sound, and Ashlyn awaits until the glowing ball of energy that is the attack drone appears behind the mercs. The bait works perfectly, and everyone of them turns to face it. Shepard charges against the engineer, hitting him with both fist on the chest and making him stutter back. Before they can react, she hits the ground, sending them flying away with a Shockwave. But her victory was a short one. She was rolling into cover to recharge her shields when a YMIR mech landed a few metres from her, crushing under it some fallen mercs and mechs. “Problems incoming! Garrus, the crates! Make them rain!” Keeping the position, Ashlyn uses her heavy pistol to undermine the shields of the robot and the Commander who is sending rains of bullets in her direction. Her own shields have been decimated twice since the mech has landed, and Tali sends a drone near her, trying to catch some attention to give her a break. The soft swearing of Garrus every time his shots didn’t make a crate fall echoed in their brains. “Garrus! You are losing your knight in shining armour status here! Kill that damn thing before it got a piece of my sorry ass!”

 

“The hell they will have it!” A series of precise shots makes a container fall just over the mech, exploding on contact and destroying all the shields and armour. “Aha haha! That ass is mine!”

 

His words are bringing some disturbing feelings to her, but she tries to ignore them while she jumps off from the cover, finishing the mech with a series of disruptive shots from her shotgun and heavy pistol, using them in tandem. The Commander keeps firing to them, but for now the drone have him entertained. Now that they didn’t have a heavy mech trying to kick their asses, they can focus on him, and soon enough the Commander is biting the dust like the rest.

 

They keep moving to the end of the building, where an office can be seen from the ground, and is the same spot the mercs are trying to protect crazily. Harkin must be hiding there, and the team has all the intention of raiding it in full force. Some mercs try to stop them once they reach the end, taking away the bridges and stairs that lead to the office. But after some combat that ends with more Blue Suns in the ground, a pair of YMIR mechs appear, and this time they didn’t have the help of the falling crates.

 

This combat was hard. It is always complicated to fight against mechs without heavy weapons, but they managed to do it. The drones Tali keeps sending against one of them gives the team the chance to concentrate their fire power in the closest one. Some concussive shots together with disruptive ammo and some tech attacks from Tali lets them pass through its barrier and armour, making it explode. The same explosion takes away part of the shields of the other one, giving them a boost to drain it quicker and efficiently. They focus their fire on it, hitting the same spot again and again, fighting to keep the shields from recharging. The shields recharge anyway, forcing them to hide again while the mech launches a full round of missiles in their direction. A battle cry from her right makes Ashlyn look there, just to find Garrus jumping from his high ground and running in the mech direction. A loud swear escapes her mouth when she sees him, with Tali gasp echoing her anguish. But the experienced soldier knows what he’s doing, and he changes the frontal assault to a rolling from cover to cover as soon as he gets the mech attention. The Turian stops close enough to aim, and he prepares a set of grenades, throwing one over the crate and sliding the other one from the side. The word _‘Grenade!’_ screamed through the comms makes Tali and Ashlyn hide even more behind the crates until the detonations happen. First one big explosion, a second later the next. They didn’t lose any time, emptying their weapon’s magazines in the still stumbling mech, until it explodes, destroying a big area around it.

 

Garrus stands from behind the crates, brushing imaginary dust from his shoulder and sporting a cocky grin, “I still have my knight in shining armour status, huh?”

 

Tali passes beside them with an angry pace, grunting loudly, “Just kiss him already, Shep. I’m getting tired of your lovesick shit.” Ashlyn is blushing deeply while Garrus sub harmonics are vibrating loudly, but Tali ignores them, moving directly to the bridge controls to create a path up for them. They join her beside the terminal, ignoring the angry glares she was directing to them from time to time. How in the void they can say she is fuming behind the helmet is beyond their comprehension, but damn if they didn’t know it. “Done. The path is clear. Seems we don’t have any more surprises up there except the snake we are looking for.”

 

Ashlyn begins to climb the boxes, finding a mech surprise behind some crates and ending it easily. Soon the full team reach the top of the building, waiting in front of the office’s door. She crouches beside the door, peeking inside and seeing Harkin playing with the controls of a terminal. She nods to the team behind her, and Garrus slips away through a side passage. She has never doubted his way of do things, and today will not be the first time. Instead, she stands up, cracks her neck and jumps inside the room, aiming directly to Harkin, who tries to run, “You were close, but not close enough!”

 

To his surprise, when the door behind him opens, he finds a very pissed Garrus, who hits him directly in the face with the back of his rifle, broken his nose. A heartbeat later, he has Harkin pinned against the wall, hard armoured forearm pressing the neck of the human, “So, Fade… couldn't make yourself disappear, huh?”

 

The human seems to believe he still  has the upper hand, his voice sounding as smugly as ever, “Come on, Garrus. We can work this out. Whaddaya need?”

 

Garrus let him go, but keep him pinned with his gaze, dark and menacing, voice sounding low than usual, “I’m looking for someone.”

 

Harkin keeps being the stupid human being that he was years ago, making Ashlyn snort when he talks next, “Well, I guess we both have something the other one wants.”

 

A swift punch in his guts got Harkin on his knees, spilling in the ground while grunting in pain. Ashlyn didn’t like this kind of behaviour, but can’t find a single thing in the man committing her protective instincts. “We’re not here to ask favours, Harkin.”

 

Garrus goes directly to the point, ignoring his retort blatantly. “You helped a friend of mine to disappear. I need to find him. His name was Sidonis. Turian, came from--”

 

Harkin raises his hands, stopping the discourse. “I know who he is. And I’m not telling you squat.”

 

Ashlyn tries to convince him with good words, as always, but the man answer with _‘business bullshit’_ making Garrus lose his temper. His strong knee hits the other man rib cage, the angry sound of something breaking sounding clearly. Once in the ground, Garrus puts his foot on Harkin’s neck, pushing down, “You know what else is bad for business? A broken neck.”

 

The threat seems to have the expected outcome, and the bag-of-shit yields to them, almost crawling to the terminal to search for the information they need. The man keeps testing his luck, teasing Garrus about how changed he is. But his words make something stir inside Ashlyn. He truly has changed since their Saren days. He still is a cold blooded soldier, but his patience runs low easier than before, and his anger raises quicker than ever. The man contacts Sidonis, arranging a meeting with him for tomorrow morning for the final exchange of the false identity. When he finishes the call, Harkin turns to face Garrus, “So, if our business is done, I’ll be going…”

 

Garrus grabs his t-shirt, dragging him closer to him, “Don’t think so. You are a criminal now, Harkin.”

 

The stupid man keeps playing with fate, teasing the growing angrier Turian, “So what… you’re just going to kill me? That’s not your style, Garrus.”

 

Garrus plays with him a bit, keeping their gazes looked, “You said it yourself, Terminus has changed me, for good.” Letting the words sink on the man brain, he stays there a few seconds, before pushing him away, “Kill you? No. But I don’t mind slowing down a little.”

 

Before anyone sees it coming, he raises his weapon and shots him straight in the knees, blood and bone splattering the wall behind him. The echoes of the shots lose in the pained screams of Harkin. Turning to face Ashlyn, she finds her raising a brow at him. “What? I’m giving C-Sec a blood trail to follow.”

 

Harkin is crying his hate in the ground, mixing some swearing with a single word aimed directly to Garrus, “Bastard!”

 

Ashlyn moves closer, pushing his chest to the ground with a foot, “You are lucky. I wouldn’t have shot you in the leg.”

 

They leave the room, the threat of coming back to finish the job if they didn’t find Sidonis there the next day hanging between them. As soon as the door close behind them, Shepard contacts Bailey, explaining him who Fade really was and were to find him if they come here quick enough.

 

The jump down the crates, walking away from the war area they have turned the factory in their quick visit. Their skycar is still waiting for them outside, and they step inside in silence. Tali is still fuming about the time, “Shops are about to close, thanks Garrus.”

 

The Turian turns to face her while Shepard drives the car to the Zakera Wards. “You still have more than two hours left. Need some help?”

 

“No need to worry your spiky head with my own troubles, Vakarian. Take your no-girlfriend to a no-date while I buy my things.”

 

Their shared _‘What?!’_ fills the skycar, making Tali shake her head, fighting hard not to snort to them. “Really, guys. You need to talk. Maybe not now, not here, but TALK.” She grunts, falling back into the seat and proceeds to ignore them the rest of the way.

 

When the card lands off in the Zakera Wards area, Tali almost run outside it, pointing to the ramen shop beside the skycar zone. “Wait for me there. I’ll be back in an hour or so.”

 

She walks away from them without waiting for an answer, leaving them looking to one another. Garrus is the first to react, coughing softly before pointing to the ramen shop. “Well, as we are here, and you have earned it, can I buy you dinner?”

 

“Sure.”

 

He offers her his arm, which she accepts with a shy smile and a soft blush. “Come on, little bird. You deserve a nice bowl of steaming ramen and a cold beer.”

 

Ashlyn chuckles, nodding while walking with him, “You know the way to a woman’s heart, Vakarian.”

 

“I can only hope to know the way to a single one woman’s heart, Shepard. Come on. I have a couple of stories to share over the meal.” They sit at the bar, and the bartender gives them the menu, taking note of their drinks. They order their meal and toast with their beers when they have them. “Have I told you about my days in the army?”

 

They didn’t how this single conversation will change their relationship, but is something they have been dreaming since their days on the Normandy SR1...

 


End file.
